Improvement in railway-frogs



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.N

THEO-DORE SHARTS, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY-FROGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 49, 162, dated August 1, 1865.

` tion, in which- Figure l is a plan or top view of my invention applied to a track Fig. 2, a detached plan view of the permanet portion ot' the frog, the tongue being removed from it; Fig. 3, a detached side view of the frog with the tongue fitted in it; Fig. et, a detached side view ofthe tongue; Fig. 5, a plan or top view of the same. Similar letters of reference indicate' correspondin g parts.

This invention relates t0 a new and improved frog for single-track railroads 5 and it has for its object the dispensing with the ordinary switch, and consequently with a switchman.

Single-track railroads, it will be understood, are provided with turn-outs at points where trains traveling in opposite directions may pass eac-h other, and these turn-outs have been hitherto provided with switches for allowing one of the trains tofpass on the turn-out, while the other moves on the direct or main track. By my invention these switches are avoided, as will be understood from the following description.

A A represent the rails of a main track, an B B the rails of a turn-out, C C being frogs at the junction. of the two tracks, said frogs being composed of two parallel anges, a al, one

of which is a trille longer than the other, as shown in Figs. l and 2. The frogs G C are permanent, and, it will be seen, do not afford in themselves any means for guiding a train on the turn-out. In order to effect this result I employ what I term a tongue,7 D, which may be made of steel-that, at least, would be the preferable material. v'lhistongueDis made of such a t'orm that it may be fitted between the two iianges a a of the frog C, and it is provided with two shoulders, b b, to abutagainst the end of the short flange a. (See Fig. 3.)

This tongue, when adjusted in the frogU, forms l a continuation of one ol' therails B, and hence indicated by the arrow l, to pass from the rails A to the rails B, and when said tongue is removed froln the frog C the train will continue on the rails A. This tongue may be carried on the tender, or in any other car of a train, or it may be kept by the side of the track, and adjusted by the engineer or his attendant in a moment of time.`

The invention will prove to be an economical one, notronl y as regards the difference in cost between it and a switch, but also in the saving of the wages of a switchman.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The employment or use of a movable or detachable tongue applied to a frog in the manner substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

IHEODORE SHARTS.

Witnesses: M. M. LIVINGSTON,

EDWARD H. KNIGHT. 

